Labour leader plans to reduce UK immigration

Ed Miliband, the leader of the UK Labour Party, has pledged to cut down on immigration from outside of the EU if his party is elected in 2015.

Ed Miliband UK Immigration

Source: express.co.uk

Speaking on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show yesterday, Miliband said that he would specifically be targeting low-skilled workers who take menial jobs that British workers could do.

“I do want to get low skill immigration down and therefore overall immigration down, yes,” he told Marr. “In our first year in office we will legislate for an immigration bill which has secure control of our borders, cracks down on exploitation of workers coming here undercutting workers already here, and says to big companies that bring in people from outside the EU that they can do that, within a cap, but they have got to train the next generation.”

Due to the rise of the anti-immigration UK Independence Party in recent years, Immigration has become increasingly viewed as being one of the key issues that will decide the next General Election. Miliband, and other leading Labour ministers have already gone on record this year to distance themselves from the party’s largely perceived ‘open-door’ approach to immigration when they were last in government.

However, Miliband’s plans have already come in for criticism, with a number of Conservative politicians pointing out that Labour’s current proposal would not be legal under EU law. However, Prime Minister David Cameron is hoping to renegotiate Britain’s terms of membership with the EU, and is promising to hold a referendum on the country’s continued involvement in the Union if he wins the 2015 election.